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I came across a bar that sounds like this while transcribing a piece for keyboard. Is there a correct/better way to write this?

it sounds like this

Richard
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spider_gem
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  • Previously: [Is there piano notation for finger sustained notes (as opposed to pedal sustain)?](https://music.stackexchange.com/q/24244) – Bavi_H Jun 22 '21 at 10:54

3 Answers3

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A broken chord like this is notated with double stems for each note. One set of stems corresponds to the eighth-note onsets of each pitch. The second set of stems corresponds to the duration of each pitch and shows the tie to the final, full chord.

Notated arpeggio with double note-heads

It is acceptable to use shared note heads in this kind of situation. For example, the first note could have a half-note head, but an eighth-note stem.

Shared note head arpeggio

Here is a similar example from the left hand, final two measures of Brahms's "Intermezzo" Op. 119, No. 2. Note here that Brahms clearly expects the fingers to sustain the pitches. The pedal marking is not for the sustain, but rather for the "warmth" of the overall sound.

Brahms Op. 119, No. 2, LH, final two bars

A second example, from Chopin, shows the importance of the ties versus a simple pedal indication.1

This first image is the first four measures of Chopin's Prelude in C major, Op. 28, No. 1, from the Paderewski edition (i.e., this is Paderewski's interpretation of how this should be played). Note the one-pedal-per-measure scheme, which is marked "Ped. simile" ("keep pedaling in the same way") in the fourth measure.

Chopin Prelude Op. 28, No. 1, mm. 1–4

However, this notation clearly does not mean to hold all notes of the chords. The sound would be extremely muddy. Consider this notation in light of the final three measures (mm. 32–34), shown below. Measure 32 is played as shown in mm. 1–4, but measures 33 and 34 are explicitly tied to illustrate the intention of a slowly arpeggiated block chord. (Also, the absence of double note heads is another alternative notation that is sometimes used.)

Chopin Op. 28, No. 1, mm. 32–34

Aaron
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    Just a warning: this may make sense for keyboards, but string instrument players could interpret this as unison double-stops (not that we could play all 4 pitches but we could possibly achieve 2 pitches) – Carl Witthoft Jun 21 '21 at 15:30
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    @CarlWitthoft Even that is only true for *bowed* string instruments. Plucked string instruments like guitars can play 4 notes in true unison (5 if the little finger is used, which is rare but possible), and a strum can sound all the strings for a block chord. Also bowed instruments played pizzicato become plucked instruments, of course, and can do the same. – Graham Jun 22 '21 at 09:58
  • The Brahms example doesn't show double note heads, but is an alternate form in which a tie between a note of any duration and the next note is assumed to extend the duration of the first. – supercat Jun 22 '21 at 14:45
  • @supercat The Brahms has "overlapping" note heads. The double stems are one clue, but the dot on the first note displayed is the important detail. The Chopin does show the notation you describe. – Aaron Jun 22 '21 at 15:11
  • @Aaron: Ah, for some reason I hadn't seen the stems. I mistook that example for an approach I've seen which uses ties to extend a note to a non-consecutive note. Whether or not any formal rules of notation recognize that meaning, I think it makes the extension of notes more visually obvious than the presence or absence of stems, especially in cases where some notes are extended and others not, and the last note is a non-extended eighth note (which reproduces all the earlier tied notes that end there, so the other ties have something to connect to). – supercat Jun 22 '21 at 16:11
  • In the Chopin example, *given* that the sustain pedal is depressed, can you explain what difference is made by holding notes with the fingers or not? Why would the sound be "extremely muddy" if they are held? Doesn't the pedal alone hold them to the same extent? (In other words, aren't the ties effectively redundant in mm. 33-34?) The difference I can see would be if comparing to *not using the pedal*, where of course only the notes held with the fingers would be undamped, not all strings. – nanoman Jun 23 '21 at 20:01
  • Following on my comment above, it seems your Chopin example is very similar to one addressed in the [answer](https://music.stackexchange.com/a/115479/71554) to another question. That answer observes that even with pedal, there can be a subtle difference in sound between held and non-held notes (especially if the pedal is only partly depressed). But I'm struggling to understand how holding the notes with the fingers would make the sound "extremely muddy" yet using full pedal alone wouldn't. – nanoman Jun 23 '21 at 23:07
  • @nanoman The muddiness I was referring to was in the first four measures. They are marked as having sustain pedal throughout, but this is not actually how pianists perform them, because holding the pedal would give a muddy sound. Instead, one would half-pedal and/or flutter-pedal through that portion (and most of the rest) of the piece. In the initial part of the piece, the fingers also do not sustain the notes beyond their notated duration. – Aaron Jun 29 '21 at 17:59
  • @nanoman In the final two measures, there are two reasons to both hold the notes with the fingers and with the pedal, as opposed to pedal alone. First, there is a subtle difference in sound, although an experienced enough pianist can mitigate that. Second, if one releases the fingers first, then there is an unattractive sound that happens when releasing the pedal. I'm not sure how to describe it, but try playing a chord with the pedal down, release the fingers, and then slowly release the pedal. You should hear what I'm talking about. – Aaron Jun 29 '21 at 18:02
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Just based off of the span of these pitches, most players can't play all of these pitches with one hand (assuming either a B♭–D or B–D♯ span).

As such, I would argue that pedaling is the best bet. Just write the pitches as normal eighth notes, but indicate to the player to hold down the pedal, thereby sustaining the pitches until the pedal sign changes:

enter image description here

It's true that pedaling could muddy up the melody notes in the right hand (depending on how active they are), but an accomplished pianist should be able to use pedal without sacrificing melodic clarity.

If the right hand is too much for the pedal, you could also clear up the notation by using simple eighth notes (as in the above example) but with a text indicator to the performer: "sustain all left-hand pitches for the duration of the measure."

PS: How funny that When piano pedalling seems to conflict with the original score was asked almost simultaneously with this one, since it connects with my answer exactly.

Richard
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    Hmmmm... //rushes off to design a piano with a set of "selective" Pedals – Carl Witthoft Jun 21 '21 at 15:31
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    An accomplished pianist would understand this notation to mean that it's not necessary to retain all four LH notes and would sacrifice some, if necessary, in service of the melody. – Aaron Jun 21 '21 at 15:45
  • Half pedalling would probably get close, without muddying the r.h. Or - use of sostenuto would, in some circumstances, be a solution. – Tim Sep 05 '21 at 07:49
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That's the way I've seen it. Obviously a wavy line won't do the job, a player would play the notes too quickly in succession.

The other way would be to write the lowest note as full value, and write as SATB, using rests before each of the other notes, which would then have their own appropriate values, losing a quaver each time in your example. But that's even messier.

Or - write out the first 3 quavers consecutively, each tied across to those same notes to, say, a minim chord to fill the bar. It's not technically correct, but tidies it all up, and the expected result is more than apparent.

Tim
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